Aerodacious

(Aviation + Audacious = Aerodacious)

Page ccCAM031 (Revised 11/05/2007)

Background: The Air Mail Act of 1925 (Kelly Act) authorized the postmaster general to contract for domestic airmail service with commercial air carriers. It also set airmail rates and the level of cash subsidies to be paid to companies that carried the mail. By transferring airmail operations to private companies, the government effectively would help create the commercial aviation industry. Various routes were designated and contracts for carrying the mail over these routes were then awarded to many different private air service companies. The Contract Air Mail routes became known as CAM's.

CAM-31:
CAM-31 was awarded to Curtiss Flying Service. In 1910 Glenn Curtiss formed the Curtiss Exhibition Company in Hammondsport NY. It claimed to be the world's oldest flying organization and was ready to supply any type of flying service for which there was a demand. Curtiss later formed the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company with aircraft manufacturing plants in Garden City NY and Buffalo NY. They manufactured a series of different types of aircraft for the Army Air Corps, mail carrying models, sport and training models and commercial passenger planes. Another Curtiss aircraft manufacturing company, the Curtiss-Robertson Airplane Manufacturing Company of St Louis MO made other types of aircraft.
In 1928 the Curtiss Flying Service was formed providing a nationwide chain of aircraft stations. CFS was awarded the experimental CAM-31 mail shuttle route to further transport inbound air mail, received from New York and points east to and between Cicero Field (Midway) and Grant Park (waterfront) airports in Chicago IL. CFS flew a Sikorshy S-38 for this shuttle flight service but since it did not appreciably speed up air mail delivery, it was discontinued after 90 days.

After the merger of the Curtiss and Wright interests in late 1929, CFS became the Curtiss-Wright Flying Service. CWFS provided a full spectrum of aviation services from aircraft sales, to aircraft servicing, to charter and taxi flights, to flying instruction, aerial photography, crop dusting and all other forms of commercial aviation.